US President George W. Bush reiterated on Thursday that he was "right to take action" to overthrow Saddam Hussein although a latest report found that Iraq had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that its nuclear program had decayed.

"America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison," Bush told reporters at the White House.

Bush made the remarks one day after Charles Duelfer, the American weapons hunter in Iraq, presented to the public a report that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the US-led invasion last year.

"The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was systematically gaming the system, using the UN oil for food program to try to influence countries and companies in an effort to undermine sanctions.

"He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away," Bush said, noting Saddam could have passed that knowledge onto terrorists.

Bush repeated that "Saddam Hussein was a unique threat, ...a threat we had to confront."

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry on Thursday criticized President Bush and his deputy Dick Cheney for failing to recognize a deteriorating situation in post-war Iraq, saying they "may well be the last two people on the planet who won't facethe truth."

Source: Agencies